Ammersoyen is one of the best preserved mediaeval castles in the Netherlands. The castle has four corner towers, a fortified bailey and is encircled by a moat. It is a typical Dutch water castle or moated castle. The mediaeval character of the interior can be seen in its great hall and its attic full of weapons and treasures found in the moat. All in all, it provides visitors with a good idea of what life would have been like in a castle.
Water castle
When it was built around 1350, Ammersoyen Castle was on the river Maas. The river was redirected a short time later, but the castle and its fortified bailey remained surrounded by water. With its square design and four corner towers, the castle is a good example of the type of castle introduced by Count Floris V of Holland. A notable feature is that the castle was built as a whole, whereas most castles were built in multiple phases.
Siege and fire
The castle was captured by the Duke of Guelders, Willem van Gulik in 1386, because the governor had defected to his arch-enemy, the Duchy of Brabant. Everything adjoining the border with the Duchy of Brabant on the river Maas was to be held for the Duchy of Guelders. In 1513, during the Guelderian Wars, the danger came from the other side of the river Maas. This time, the castle was besieged by the Habsburgs. Yet in the end, it was an ordinary domestic fire in 1590 that really damaged the castle severely and it took a long time before the damage was repaired. The Van Arkel family restored the castle to its mediaeval state in 1667.
600 years of castle life
Ammersoyen became a convent for the Order of Saint Clare in 1867. The nuns had the moat filled in and built an adjoining chapel. Between 1944 and 1945, the castle suffered severe war damage. The nuns left and the castle came into the possession of the Friends of Gelderland Castles Foundation (Stichting Vrienden van Geldersche Kasteelen). Restoration work took 16 years, but it has brought the castle back to its former mediaeval glory wherever possible. The filled-in moat turned out to be an archaeological treasure trove, full of pieces of pottery, glass, silver, tin and bronze. The finds are exhibited in the attic. A visit to the mediaeval rooms as well as the present castle will give visitors a good impression of 600 years of life in Ammersoyen Castle.
